Our Job Description

The CES office in Moscow asked us to write a description of what we do here in Vladivostok that they could present to the next couple who will be taking our place next year. I am posting it here for any couples interested in being senior missionaries. Understand, please, that EVERY senior mission is different. This is ours.

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Description of the CES Vladivostok Mission Senior Couple

One important point to remember is that no senior mission is the same, and a couple replacing us in Vladivostok may find their service here to be different than what we are currently experiencing. For example, our experience varies from that described to us by the previous couple who served here. They traveled across the mission frequently, meeting many of the youth and interacting with the Institute and Seminary teachers. We travel very infrequently. Changes in budgets, philosophy, and guidance from the Area Presidency also alter the experience at this level. In general, though, our experience leads us to believe that senior couples largely create or mold their own mission experience, based on desire, abilities, and physical capabilities, as well as direction and influence of the presiding Church Education System (CES) coordinator and the current mission president. Unless a senior couple feels a great need for guidance, that direction is minimal to nonexistent. Senior couples are expected to bring their knowledge of the gospel, experience, and ideas for activities and take care of themselves and everyone within their reach. In doing so, they can be of great service to the mission president, the branch, and the missionaries.

Each CES coordinator is a unique individual and interacts with senior couples in their own ways. They are all deeply committed to the gospel, have great testimonies, know their people, and strive earnestly to help the Institute and Seminary programs prosper in each branch. They love us, but aren't always sure what to do with us.

Each mission president is also unique and has his own method for running his mission. His focus is on numbers of baptisms and taking care of the young missionaries, and he has little time to devote to worrying about senior couples. That's what is great about senior couples. They can actually come, acclimate, and be of great service while requiring little or no effort from the mission president. The gospel is true, and it is the center of all our activities. Beyond that, there is much variety and spice to this life.

Mission Parents: We have so few senior couples (three across our entire mission) that we feel like the mission parents—and we love it! Our primary focus is on serving, helping, teaching, motivating, guiding, and inspiring the young single adults in our branch and, to the extent possible, across the entire mission. It's a tough challenge here, and very rewarding though sometimes a bit heartbreaking. We don't get to personally interact with most of the youth across the mission except for the rare times when we travel. So, we take lots of pictures when we are with them and share on Facebook, hoping they will get to know each other and correspond with one another. (They love seeing themselves and their friends on Facebook.) Our other major focus is on helping the young missionaries---supporting them, feeding them, sewing up and patching their clothing, encouraging them when they are having a tough day, cheering them on during successes, and sharing testimonies to bolster their lessons. Plus, we post pictures on Facebook for their parents and families to see. This is soooo much fun!!

Mornings are ours to do our own tasks, to exercise, to study the language, to read and study the gospel, and to cook and shop. Guess what takes the most time? The missionaries go out at 11:00 a.m. and find people to teach, and our lives get booked up as part of their success. That means that afternoons and evenings are almost always very busy. It's great!

First and foremost, we cook all the time. That means we shop every day because we walk and take the bus everywhere we go, so we can only haul so many pounds of groceries at a time. Vladivostok is built on hills, so we are always walking uphill or downhill. Good footwear is a must as is a good backpack for hauling groceries! We feed meals to missionaries, investigators, new members, and branch members many nights of each week (minimum 6 people at each meal). We cook the meals for zone conferences. We bake cakes, brownies, and cookies for baptisms (25-30 people). We make treats for the Especially for Youth Evenings (EFYE) that we host each week—usually around 25 people. We host a varying group of young adults (4-18 so far) after church on Sundays and feed them dinner after a spiritual thought. CES truly does mean Cooking Every Second.

I suppose a senior couple wouldn't have to feed meals to as many people as we do. We do this by our choice. Perhaps other couples would find other ways to socialize with the people.

EFYE: We host and present EFYE every Friday night where we play games, present gospel lessons, eat food, and have activities. We're very sad if we don't have at least 20 people show up. Missionaries bring investigators to experience life with LDS people (hoping we will inspire them), and we work to help the new converts bond with each other and members, and provide a fun, wholesome atmosphere that is spiritually based, but fun and active. The missionaries are often able to present discussions to investigators after EFYE evenings. Through the activities we host, youth can see that a gospel-centered life includes more than just reading scriptures.

Super Saturdays, Firesides, and Other Visits: Rare treats are when we prepare Super Saturday (SS) activities and a fireside and bring the youth from surrounding cities to Vlad to participate. Then we travel to two other locations and present the same SS activities and fireside to youth in those areas. These are very special opportunities when we get to meet and interact with the youth in remote locations. Locally, and more often, we take a train and/or bus (1-5 hour rides) to several of the closest cities and visit their Institute classes, go to church with them on Sunday, and present an activity—like a movie night—for their youth (and often the entire branch). Activities are a key part of our efforts to entice the youth to become and stay active. Building camaraderie and helping them get to know each other—especially new members—is very important for the success of the gospel in their lives now and for their continuing activity.

Activities: We are guiding and helping the youth to plan, prepare, and produce their own group activities: ping-pong tournament, basketball, volleyball, movie nights, quests, service projects, and perhaps even camping.

Missionary Work: We host missionary discussions in our apartment on a frequent basis. We join in the discussions and bear testimony and share personal experiences and insights, as requested by the missionaries. We attend and help with all baptisms. We provide towels for the floors and those entering the baptismal font, clean up before and after, haul home and wash the towels and baptismal outfits, play the piano for the hymns (because Sister Nelson can), and make treats for those who attend. We carry English practice cards and pass them to people we may talk with on the street or the buses. Occasionally, we actually bring home our own investigators. Rare, but it happens:-) Our lack of fluency in the Russian language hampers our communication efforts on the street, but we smile at everyone, and sometimes people are brave enough to talk with us because we are foreigners.

English Practice: Two nights a week, the missionaries host English practice at the church for Russians who want to learn English. It's a great missionary tool. We attend, help, tell stories, and talk with the Russians who want to chat in English. This is a very interesting experience, a good opportunity to make friends and direct conversations toward gospel topics, and it's the only activity that requires NO FOOD. Woo hoo!

Keep in mind that we have only been here for 6 months. So, this is a short-timer's view of our mission. In a year, we might being saying many different things.

This is a great work, and it is WORK. We are dead tired every night when we finally fall into bed. It is a grand mission, to be serving so many people for so many hours of every day and trying to stay ahead of the wave. God is in this work. He loves His children. He loves His missionaries. He loves us. The gospel is true. We are honored to be in His service.